[6][7] While studying at the Ben Shemen Youth Village, he started training for long distance runs.

[8] His wife Selamawit "Selam" Dagnachew Teferi, whom he married in January 2017, was born in Ethiopia and became an Israeli citizen in 2018 on account of their marriage.

[11][12] Teferi competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the marathon, and finished 74th out of 155 runners, with a time of 2:21:06.

[14] On 12 August 2018, he ran a 2:13:00 and broke the Israeli marathon record (set in 2003 by Ayele Seteng), while coming in seventh in the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.

[16] On 20 July 2019, Teferi won the KBC Night of Athletics 5000 Metres in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, with a time of 13:40.37.

[15] On 5 December 2020, at the Israeli Half Marathon Championships, Teferi won a silver medal with a time of 1:02:58.

[15] On 15 August 2022, at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Teferi won the silver medal for Israel in the individual marathon competition in 2:10:23.

[15][18] He was also a member of the gold medal team for Israel winning the European Marathon Cup at the same competition.

[20] On 27 August 2023, at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Teferi won the silver medal in the Men's Marathon with a time of 2:09:12.